Anti-Mage

Anton was amazed at how familiar everything was. He wasn’t a programmer by trade, but like everyone else he had figured out how to surf the web and find information. After only five minutes he had a pretty good understanding of how the terminal in front of him worked and how to surf for information. Unfortunately, he didn’t have access to the memories of the person whose body he was in, nor could he feel her thoughts anymore.

Another thing that was a bit concerning, he hadn’t seen any notifications, nor could he pull up his Personal Status while controlling this woman’s body. Was that because there was no magic in this world? Maybe he could see his Status because he was permanently tied to whatever fueled his Immortality and Anti-Mage abilities? He guessed that was a possible explanation. Even so, it looked like the notification system didn’t work for anyone else so maybe the SYSTEM couldn’t normally access others.

Anton could feel his mind getting weaker which he figured meant he was spending a bit of psychic energy while he was controlling this woman. Unlike when he utilized Specter, he could feel the strain. It wasn’t a huge strain but he felt himself losing focus the longer he held onto her body.

Knowing that, Anton went to work. First, he did a search for an abbreviated timeline of historically important events. He also found out what the local date was.

It was only 2086 in this Realm. He’d been born in 2013 on his Earth. This Earth didn’t seem to be too much further along technologically as everything he’d seen so far was just tweaks on themes he was used to. Apple or Android type interfaces and the computer in front of him had YouTube. Well, it wasn’t YouTube but it was very similar. After a little research, he discovered that it was completely AI-driven and that anything posted was verified as factual or opinion-driven.

Anton set the filter to factual information and pulled up a timeline.

2030 - the first Moonbase was established.

2033 – the first trip out to the Asteroid Belt was successful.

2035 – the first large asteroid was transferred from the Asteroid Belt into orbit around the Moon and mined for materials utilized to increase mining and manufacturing production.

2040 – Breakthroughs in technology allowed the first Lightspeed capable ships to be built utilizing an Alcubierre Warp Drive.

Anton was drawn into the article about the Alcubierre Drive which talked about the possible problems concerning trying to make the bubble created by the drive exceed the speed of light. One of those problems was that some believed that if the warp bubble exceeded the speed of light extremely high temperatures caused by Hawking Radiation would destroy anything inside the bubble. As there was no way to test the theory the original ships were designed to remain below the speed of light. There were some other nonsensical arguments that signals wouldn’t be able to get to the front of the ship but the same theorist that made that claim failed to remember that Relativity was in play. The ship itself and the space around it wouldn’t be traveling at the same velocity in a bubble. Even Anton, NOT a physicist, understood how relativity played into that scenario.

Anton returned to reviewing the timeline.

2041 – First Alcubierre Drive spaceship launched, Destination Proxima Centauri.

2041 - 2048 – Expansion to Mars complete, Station and bases established.

2049 – Mission to Proxima Centauri returns

2050 – Alcubierre Drive upgraded allowing Faster than Light travel.

From that point, the history and desire of the Human race in this Realm was pretty straightforward. Expansion. The estimated maximum speed of the upgraded drive was approximately 100 times the speed of light. This had nothing to do with the actual speed of the drive but more to do with the shielding and energy required for that shielding. He couldn’t do a deep dive into that specific information but it was easy enough to find short articles or videos explaining the major points. The faster something went the fast it heated up requiring more energy for shielding which created the upper limit to the ships speed.

Anton continued his research and discovered that humanity had expanded into an area roughly 2,000 lightyears across with probes out to 4,600 lightyears. As the center of the Milky Way was approximately 26,000 lightyears from Earth, they had quite a bit to go before they’d reach that point. From everything he came across it looked like humanity was spreading slowly but expanding the area that they’d explored at a much quicker rate.

The last entry of note was that the area he’d teleported into had been discovered roughly 30 years ago and only recently had the station been created, though most of that information was identified by the A.I. governing the web as fiction. Knowing that the area was real and that the A.I. would know it was real, yet chose to label it incorrectly indicated that whoever was running the show for Earth had some measure of control over the A.I.

Anton had been researching for about 20 minutes when he suddenly became extremely tired. He tried to disengage from the Directors mind but found that he was unable to for some reason. He was able to explore the feelings and the closest analogy he could come up with was that it felt like he had fallen into quicksand and while he was trying to withdraw himself from the quicksand that was her mind and body, it clung to him, refusing to let go. It felt like if he’d tried to do this sooner he could have withdrawn easily but now that he had a headache and his mind was feeling lethargic it was that much harder. He couldn’t read his notifications, he couldn’t activate any of his skills or abilities, and he was sure he was about to run out of Psychic Energy.

Anton was not at all surprised when as his vision went dark and three Notifications filled his vision before everything went dark.

You have Died, Specter has Activated.

Psychic Energy depleted.

You have been Disincorporated.

***

Caitlyn Sheppard, along with Commander Davis and someone in a very clean business suit who hadn’t bothered to introduce himself stood in an Observation Room looking down on Anton who had been strapped down to an exam table.

“Where did they find him?” the unidentified man asked.

Commander Davies took the lead and answered man, “Approximately one hour after he disappeared on the moon he reappeared unconscious and unresponsive next to Director Li-Meng. Before Anton’s appearance in the Control Center of this Space Station, the Director’s terminal was utilized to perform research on the history of Earth.”

Whoever the man in the suit was mused for a moment before he continued, “In the recordings we have he mentioned that he was from Earth and that this Earth was in something called the Labyrinth, Did any of you hear him say anything else on the subject while you were traveling.”

Caitlyn spoke up, “Sir, he didn’t say anything, but as soon as he saw Earth, he smiled.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“The recordings didn’t pick that up. Why wasn’t that in any of your reports?” The man asked.

Commander Davis spoke up, “We have only filed a preliminary report at this time, Sir.”

The man looked thoughtful for a moment, “Please, call me Felix. Also, it has only been one hour, correct?”

Commander Davis, Caitlyn, Sergeant Jack, and Private Stevens nodded.

“Very well. Commander Davis, set up a two-person shift for the four of you. I want eyes on him until he wakes up, two at a time. No one besides Doctor Bashir is to interact with the prisoner unless he wakes up, she should be along shortly. He is being sedated so he shouldn’t wake up, but he’s already done something impossible so let’s not jinx it,” Felix turned and walked toward the door as he said, “Commander, the station is yours. Please get those reports filed and try not to let him go this time.”

“Yes, Sir!” Commander Davis said as Caitlyn Sheppard watched.

Commander Davis and Private Stevens took the first watch. Twelve hours later Sub-Commander Sheppard and Sergeant Jack replaced them. As they were sitting in the observation room watching Anton sleep Sergeant Maxwell Jack, “Max”, turned to Caitlyn, “Where exactly are we?”

Caitlyn looked at Max and smiled, “I have no idea.”

“Does Commander Davis know?” Max asked.

“I don’t think so. We have portals that can reach approximately 10 light-years out, though the power requirements are insane for those transfers so they don’t happen often. As you know, we were called from the Moonbase to the station to pick up Anton and then shunted through another Portal in short order. I’d think we were back at the Cube because Docter Bashir is here but that doesn’t feel right. The Cube is an artificial station floating in space. This doesn’t feel like we are in space. We are either in a very large asteroid or somewhere underground. As there isn’t any access to the outside and I don’t feel angular movement I believe we are on one of the outer planets or moons. Also, we could be on one of the planets in one of the nearby solar systems. While baren they could still support a station underground.

“How long will we be here?” Max asked.

“Until Anton wakes up, most likely, though I wouldn’t count on it. As soon as Felix finds other people he can trust we should be replaced. Clandestine work isn’t part of our normal duties, though how we do on this assignment will either open or close doors for us going forward,” Caitlyn mused to herself, as much to Max.

A moment later Caitlyn had that feeling in her gut that something was wrong just before a screen popped into her vision that wasn’t one of the screens she normally interacted with that was part of her ocular implant.

WARNING!!!

Realm Integrity has destabilized.

The Dimensional Barrier has failed.

Caitlyn’s attention was drawn from the messages as Max screamed and was suddenly cut off. She tried to focus her attention on him, at which point the screen of messages disappeared and Max became visible to her. She watched as the body within his clothing and gear rippled and then from his right side to his left was erased. He wasn’t burned or frozen, his body just disappeared from his right shoulder to his left shoulder in a moment which caused his clothing and gear to drop to the ground. At that same time, Caitlyn felt a slight tingle start at her left shoulder and wash through her from left to right. Unlike Max she felt fine. No better than fine, she felt like something that had been locked away was now unlocked.

SYSTEM Initialization Commencing.

***

Anton came to a semblance of consciousness and floated in the nothingness of warmth and comfort for a while. How long? He had no idea. He just knew that he was warm and comfortable. He also realized that he was having a hard time concentrating, though as time went by that mental fogginess cleared. When he finally realized what was happening, Anton activated Mental Refuge and dropped into his Mindspace.

Wait, he hadn’t been able to activate his skills before. What was going on? Anton focused on opening his Notifications which populated normally. Anton scrolled the messages back to the point when he entered this Realm.

Welcome Adventurer

Universe: Labyrinth Seed VX-072365c

World: Universe Seed: E0456739

Location: 1 of 2

Recommended Levels: N/A

Mana Level: 0.001% Saturation

This is a Teleportation Destination, Fast Travel, is NOT available

The next notification Anton received was the SYSTEM Update which had somehow pushed its way through whatever had censored the notifications he’d received when he’d arrived. After that were the last three messages he’d seen just before he blacked out, though the notifications did continue after his mind was unable to process them. One thing he did notice was that while he’d been possessing the director of the station, he’d been spending 10 Psychic Energy each Combat Turn, or 60 per minute. That’s why he’d run out of energy so quickly.

Anton continued reviewing his Notifications.

You have Died, Specter has Activated

Psychic Energy depleted.

You have been Disincorporated

Zero Psychic Energy available for Reconstitution.

Reconstitution will commence in one hour.

Magical Saturation insufficient for Reconstitution.

Magical Matrix failure imminent.

Magical Matrix breached.

All Negative Bodily Status Effects have been neutralized.

Ability Anti-Mage Link at 101%

The next few, it wasn’t a few. The next “few” messages indicated that whatever link Anti-Mage had with the source of his Anti-Mage ability had continued to increase until it reached 1,001%

Ability Anti-Mage Link at 1,001%

Magical Matrix has become disconnected from Ability entry point.

Dimensional Barriers breached.

Magical Saturation detected

Realm Integrity has destabilized.

Magical Saturation has increased to 1%

Magical Saturation has increased to 25%

Magical Saturation has increased to 50%

Magical Saturation has increased to 100%

Magic Saturation has stabilized

Current Magical Saturation 100%

Personal Magical Matrix has stabilized

Personal Magical Matrix has returned to the previous configuration.

Local Labyrinth Realm has been breached. Magical Saturation will continue from this point until parity is reached.

Anton opened his eyes and found himself strapped to an examination table. Now that whatever had been in him was neutralized he knew he only had moments to get free, which didn’t prove that difficult. He’d been tied down to the bed with Velcro straps which snapped when he put just a little of his strength into the effort. After he sat up in the bed, he reached over and pulled the IV in his left arm out and undid the straps on his legs.

He looked around and saw one of the guards who had escorted him to the moon standing behind the observation window. This time the blond-haired, blue-eyed woman was in a normal uniform, her gaze unfocused, like someone who was reading Notifications or Status Screens. He’d been able to see his notifications in his Mindspace, were his notifications working again? Anton tried to pull up his Personal Status and was pleasantly surprised when it worked.

There had been no changes since the last time he’d looked except that he’d unlocked a class-specific Psychic Skill, Possession.

Possession

Prerequisite: Specter and Manifest

While Manifested in Specter Form you may move into and control the body of any creature whose will you can suppress. Will in possession you may utilize the physical body you control to perform any physical action normally possible by the possessed body.

To end this skill, you must disconnect from your target by spending PE equal to the target's willpower. If you do not do this before you cannot do this you will be forcibly ejected from the target. Note: Psychic Creatures with no Psychic Energy are normally disincorporated at this point and can meet their final death.

Cost: 10 PE to initiate and 10 PE per turn after.

NOTE: Ability Immortal is synergistic with this ability. Disincorporated entities will reconstitute normally if disincorporated due to energy deprivation.

So how had they captured him? Also, where was he? Anton considered the various things he could do and activated Specter. He rose through the ceiling and then through two more floors before he came to a point where he entered solid rock. After a little while, at least 1,000 feet he broke the surface onto a barren rocky plain. As he looked around he noticed a bunker with a hanger door built into a cliff that opened onto the plain he now floated above. That wasn’t the most interesting thing about this location though. What was interesting was that the light coming from the star above him was red. Also, there was no plant life as far as he could see which meant he was probably on a barren planet in another solar system.

Anton checked the hanger and the facility connected to it and tried to determine how many people were here. A couple of minutes later he had his answer, not many, as in none. He did, however, find piles of clothes. The clothes and gear were arranged in random locations as if whoever had been wearing them had suddenly vanished and been left behind. As for living people, there were none.

Anton followed the elevator shaft back down to the lower levels. Entry into the sublevels was made through a very robust airlock system that consisted of three separate airlocks that could allow multiple people to transfer through each airlock. The upper section hadn’t been that large but the lower area could easily house hundreds of people. Still, a quick search revealed that except for the lowest sublevel, there had been no one in the upper two sublevels of the facility.

On Sublevel 3 he found evidence of two people who had been asleep in one of the rooms when whatever happened vaporized them. If that’s what happened. In the observation room, he found clothing and gear beside where he’d seen the woman when he’d come to.

He'd read the notifications. There had been some kind of dimensional breach centered on him and it looked like there was a conduit centered on this location that was feeding magic back into this Realm of the Labyrinth. That could be both good and bad for him. Anton had a thought, what if creatures and people within this Realm were generated? If energy from outside the Labyrinth was entering could that energy do something to them or had they been subject to a wave of the Anti-Magic that his Ability was based on? What would that look like if someone was exposed to it in an insanely concentrated form?

Regardless, he needed to talk to the woman and figure out what happened to her. Also, if she was here, there had to have been others. Had she seen what had happened to them? Anton explored Sublevel 3 and eventually made his way back to the Examination Room where he found the woman When he found herth her she was searching the room he’d been kept in.

Anton moved into the examination room on the other side of the bed he’d woke up on and deactivated Specter. The woman across from him looked up, saw him, and stood as she stepped back.

“What? Where did you come from?” the woman asked.

Anton looked at the woman and noted that she was mostly unarmed with only an extendable baton hooked to her utility belt. It did look like she could handle herself as her first movement had been to step back into a classic defensive posture. Anton smiled reassuringly, “Hello, my name is Anton. I know we’ve met before but I didn’t catch your name last time,” Anton said leadingly.

Anton watched the woman as she thought about how to proceed before she said, “My name is Caitlyn Sheppard. I am the Sub Commander assigned to keep you in this restricted facility. Technically you are my prisoner.”

Anton laughed lightly as he made sure he had access to all of his skills and abilities before he made a show of slowly stretching out his arms and rotating them so Sub-Commander Sheppard could see that he was holding nothing in his hands. Then, he summoned a P90 from his inventory which he casually pointed at the examination bed between them, “I am not your prisoner, nor do I actually need this weapon,” Anton said as the P90 vanished back into this inventory, “Just know that the weapon I just showed you is one of many I can pull from my inventory. Now, Caitlyn can I call you Caitlyn? Where is everyone else.”

“They should be here any mome….”

“No, they won’t. I’ve already scouted out the whole facility. All of the sub-levels down here, and the attached facility and hanger on the surface. There is no one else in this facility besides the two of us. Also, the star in this Solar System is red, so I’ll ask again, Where is everyone, and also, where are we?”

Sub-Commander Sheppard bolted for the door, opened and closed it, and then hit the lock mechanism. Anton watched apathetically as she moved across the room to the door and fled. He could have reacted but chose not to. Once he heard the locking mechanism engage, he sighed.

Sub-Commander Sheppard stepped into the observation room and looked at Anton while he looked right back at her, “As I was saying, you are my prisoner. I’m going to let you wait here while I figure out what happened.”

Anton didn’t bother answering her. Instead, he pointed to a location in the room behind her. As she turned to look, he activated Specter flashed over to the location he’d pointed at in the observation room, and deactivated Specter. Her reflexes were very good, Anton had to admit that. Within a moment she realized that the position she was in put Anton between her and the only door out of the small Observation Room. Without hesitation, she attacked.

Caitlyn had martial arts training. Anton did not. That, however, did not matter. Anton, attributes were at least 10 times as high as Caitlyn’s and it showed. She made a move to grapple him into a headlock which he easily sidestepped because, to him, she appeared to be moving in slow motion.

When grappling didn’t work, he slapped aside her punches, again because she moved too slowly to be any threat. This went on for a few minutes while she continued to attack Anton and became more and more frustrated with her lack of progress. Suddenly her fist glowed with a golden light and moved at incredible speed just before it came into contact with his Anti-Mage field which snuffed it out. As her fist made contact with the center of his chest he was a little surprised when it didn’t hurt. Caitlyn immediately stepped back with a look of shock on her face. Anton took the opportunity to pull up his Combat Log and find out what had just happened.

You have been targeted by Celestial Fist.

Celestial Fist has been negated upon contact with Anti-Mage field.

All damage bonuses have been removed.

Modified Damage taken: 2

Damage Resistance has completely negated damage.

Damage taken: 0

Anton’s attention was brought back to Caitlyn with shock apparent in her demeanor when she asked, “What just happened?”

Anton looked thoughtful as he considered how to proceed and then asked, “Are we going to fight some more, or do you want to head over to the small mess hall and sit down while we talk? I saw a coffee machine when I quickly scouted out the area?”

“Are you going to try to kill me?” Sub-Commander Sheppard asked.

“Not unless you try to kill me,” Anton replied honestly. Besides, if I wanted you dead, I could always pull out my weapons.”

That statement brought the Sub-Commander up short as she asked, “Why didn’t you?”

“You’re not a threat to me. If I was a betting man I’d almost guarantee that whatever left you behind, killed anyone else in this facility though I don’t know why. Though, after that glowing fist you just displayed I do have a few ideas.”

“You think you know what caused that glow?” Caitlyn asked.

“I do, but let's go get that coffee and sit down while we talk,” Anton said as he stepped out of the room and ushered down the hall.

Caitlyn hesitated for only a moment before she walked out of the room and led Anton to the mess hall which was really just a small room on Sublevel 2. Anton followed Caitlyn into the room and waited for her to grab some coffee before he did the same and joined her at one of the nearby tables.

Anton watched as the Sub-Commander sat with her hands wrapped around her cup. He was sure she was thinking about the various things that had happened. Anton sat down out of easy reach, which caused her to look up, “You said you knew what my glowing fist was?”

Anton nodded, “If I had to guess, I’d say that it was a skill or ability that drew on or was fueled by Celestial energy. If it truly is divine in nature it could explain why a field of null or anti-energy that spread through this facility didn’t kill you.”

“I’m not divine, I’m just a girl from St. Cloud Minnesota.”

“You might be a girl from Minnesota but you are no longer just a girl from Minnesota,” Anton said

“How is that possible?” she asked as she looked into her coffee. “I don’t feel any different.”

“I saw you looking off into the distance when I first woke up. Were you by chance reading a slew of notifications?” Anton asked.

“Actually, yes. How did you know?”

“When anyone is viewing those screens their eyes become unfocused. Have you checked your Personal Status?”

Caitlyn looked confused, “Personal Status?”

“Just think ‘Personal Status’ and review the information that comes up. If you want to know what something means, focus on it and think ‘Help’ or ‘Info’.

“What’s that going to …. Caitlyn started to ask before her eyes became unfocused.

“While you’re looking at that I’m going to see if there’s anything to eat. Just letting you know so I don’t surprise you when I move,” Anton said. Caitlyn nodded as Anton stood and went to look for something to eat. He still had a lot of questions but they could wait. As the only person he could talk to here he wanted to garner a good relationship with her. Also, he hoped that the energy pulse that had killed everyone here had dissipated or this was going to be a very empty Realm when that energy wave reached Earth. Even if the wave was traveling at the speed of light he should have a little bit of time before it made it that far shouldn’t he?